The most successful businesses are those with confidence in their ability to store, access and use data effectively. Rather than focusing on the nuts and bolts of storage, this view point looks at the data it holds and more importantly, what can be done with it.

This review looks at why small businesses need to stop being complacent about their networks and at what they can do to maintain their competitive edge as they follow the big boys down the route of increasing collaboration and other bandwidth-hungry applications likely to impact on network performance and availability.

In response the SOS initiative is designed to bring together prosecutors, police chiefs, attorney generals and public safety officials to work with the smartphone sector to develop tools to tackle the issue.

Johnson said joining the initiative was a key step forward in tackling the problem by bringing together experts from across the globe.

“Residents and visitors to our city need better protection from the menace of smartphone theft. Cities like London, New York and San Francisco all face the same challenge and that is why London is joining the Secure Our Smartphones campaign to help find a global solution,” he said.

Johnson also repeated calls to smartphone makers urging them to take the issue seriously and work with the SOS initiative.

“We need the industry to take this issue seriously and come up with a technical solution that can squash the illegal smartphone market that is fuelling this crime.”

New York welcomed London's move, with attorney general Eric Schneiderman saying it was a clear message to smartphone makers.

"By teaming up with international partners like Mayor Johnson we are sending the huge international corporations that dominate the smartphone industry a very powerful message, demanding that they be good corporate citizens and take responsible steps to ensure the safety of our consumers," he said.

Earlier this year the Metropolitian Police attempted to raise the public's awareness of the rising theft of smartphones by posting CCTV footage of the types of smartphone thefts being carried out.